Instafame: Modelling coach training young people to become 'social media influencers'

Modelling coach Sara Bhuller is holding a workshop for young people looking for 'instafame'.

ABC News: Antoinette Lattouf

If you can make it on platforms like Facebook and Instagram as a 'social media influencer', every snap you post could earn you thousands of dollars in advertising money.

Influencers are no longer just celebrities — now stay at home mums, gym junkies, food lovers and makeup artists are all being paid to post photos on social media.

In April this year, there were about 5 million active monthly Australian Instagram users, mostly between 18 and 34 years old.

Advertisers have seen this change and are shifting where they spend big on promoting products and services, moving away from models and actors on magazine covers to regular people with large social media followings.

"From when I started the least [I made] was probably about $250, and now can I make up to $2,000 to 3,000 at a time … [for] a single post.

"For a video it's often more, $3,000 to 4,000."

Ms Romano said taking and editing the perfect photo can be a full day of work for her.

'Reinforcing traditional notions of beauty'

Body Image expert Christine Morgan, CEO of the Butterfly Foundation, said she was concerned about the amount of time young people were spending on social media.

"There's been some recent research released which shows that just 30 minutes of being involved, in particular Instagram or Facebook, significantly increases the objectification that a young person will have about their body," she said.

"What does it look like and how does it compare to others — and 99 per cent of the time you fall short."

She said social media simply reinforced traditional notions of beauty.

"There's still an absolute obsession for women about the thin ideal, and for boys it's about the lean and six pack kind of look," she said.

"So it doesn't seem to be shifting that.

"I think the more difficult thing is that it would be truly democratising if those people were projecting themselves as they are in reality.

"But what we know happens on social media, particularly Instagram, is that the photos that are released have all been photoshopped."

But Ms Bhuller disagreed.

She said in general she believed social media helped level the playing field.

"There's a lot of successful influencers that I see all the time that aren't slim, that aren't perfect, that don't use filters," she said.

"They've got a lot of followers, especially with mummy bloggers, we've got a lot of mummy bloggers and it's because they're real and they're relatable."